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SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

have given up on the spiritual entities that fill a tree or a of meditation do I have to do in order to get out of that
land or a field or a mountain. left-brain hemisphere and into the right hemisphere and
When Native Americans speak of sacred mountains, into the heart and to connect my intuition with things?
that’s a whole different story, because they see themselves as When we are dealing with spiritual direction, it’s really
part of creation, naming “all my relatives,” and so on. I feel important to learn to open a new field: transpersonal soci-
that’s important. We need to create a new cosmology that ology. What happens when a group of people are chant-
will allow the planet to heal. The current cosmology only ing, or drumming, or meditating together? Or dancing?
allows for the planet to be used and tapped so it will bring There is something that is happening in a field, like a
in money. I believe that every religion is a vital organ of the morphogenetic field or something, that is alive with itself,
planet. That’s why none of them can claim triumphalism. and we don’t understand that yet. That’s why worship in
In the past, it was Judaism that said when the Messiah synagogues and churches is so dead these days.
will come everybody will find out they were wrong
and Judaism was right. Christianity said at the Second When did you first become interested in spiri-
Coming, Jesus will come, and everybody will be saved tual guidance or spiritual companioning? Was it
if they believe in him. Some people in Islam believe that within your Jewish tradition? And how has that
there is a hidden imam who will show himself. There will developed?
be another avatar coming and everybody is going to be Spiritual direction raises the right question, but it doesn’t
that. This is an error as I see it. often offer the right answer. Let me go back. When I was
Once we have seen Earth from outer space it becomes studying at the seminary, the yeshiva, it was a Hasidic
very clear that we are all part of the living planet. If we yeshiva and the intention was to help make your prayer life
believe God has created us, there is this religion and that active, real, and with feeling. We also had people known
religion, and the earth needs all of us. Each religion brings as mashpiyim, and they were the spiritual guys with whom
something else. The Jains are careful not to swallow even we studied those mystical texts and who showed us how
an insect; that’s an important learning. In Judaism you say to go about doing things. I give you an example: one day
not everything is kosher; you have to be very careful. So I’m working very hard in prayer and I’m making an awful
now we are talking about ecologically kosher, eco-kosher, face like I’m crying and my mashpia, my spiritual direc-
and bio-kosher. So these are the kinds of things that have tor, comes and pokes me in the ribs with his elbow and
to be brought up today. says, “Have you tried with a smile?” That really got to me
Also, [about] the ethics that we have today, take a look. because I had the sense that I had to overcome divine reluc-
People are saying in [United States] Congress that they tance instead of taking hold of God’s holiness. This was
want to cut entitlements. But they don’t go to the entitle- sort of a Zen moment. So I had that from the beginning.
ments of the oil companies or of agri-business who are get- But when I started to work in the field, in the Jewish
ting quite big chunks of money, while at the same time they field first, I found out about the Shalem Institute near
are taking away food stamps for people who get very low Washington, DC. I got in touch with them, because I
hourly wages. What is necessary is to be able to see that we was excited that spiritual direction was happening out-
are all part of this larger life, and therefore ... no executive side of my Jewish experience, too. So I got to deal with
should be entitled to a salary that is so much higher than spiritual directors outside of Judaism. Also I had a won-
what people on the bottom of the scale are getting. Ethics derful privilege when I was getting my master’s degree at
need to derive from this. This needs to be our reality map. Boston University. I was a student of Howard Thurman
of blessed memory. Does that name mean anything?
Are you saying we need a different ethical system?
Even if I say you ought to, it doesn’t help if someone Oh, yes—the late African-American theologian
doesn’t show me how I can do that. That has to do with and educator.
the upaya, with the skillful means.... For instance, if I want He was Dean of the Chapel and he offered a course
to see the world and a new understanding of it, what kind in spiritual disciplines and resources with labs. You can

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